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Basking Rootwalla Discussion

3 months ago

3 months ago

Hi,

We just drew twenty initial hands to see what would happen. Out of those twenty hands, 4 did not contain land and 8 only contained one land. Even in a deck in which no card exceeds CMC 2, this seems rather sparse. Especially considering the deck does not contain any ramp. If it were up to us, we would exchange two of the Quirion Rangers and both Basking Rootwallas for some more forests. Seems like a good deck though, nice job!

5 months ago

So I modified your list a bit, but I don't know if you want to see it. I'll offer some suggestions and leave a list at the bottom if you're interested in what it could look like.

I'd cut Hooting Mandrills. You're deck seems more interested in getting Threshold online. This card is contrary to that strategy and I think you found your beatdown body in Arrogant Wurm, which is just strictly better with trample.

After testing Rites of Refusal, I think it is just too cute and clunky. I found that this iteration of the deck doesn't run enough pure card advantage to justify "2-for-1"ing yourself. 8 counterspells may be enough anyway, but if you feel like you could use more, running Counterspell or Daze aren't bad options. They come with a little risk, not being mono U, but could be worth it.

I think you can cut Werebear. Breaks my heart to suggest it, but it might be risky to over-saturate your deck with threshold creatures. He's more vulnerable than Nimble Mongoose in the early game and I've already mentioned that the Arrogant Wurm seems like your 4/4 of choice. You aren't an aggro deck so, rather than just throwing a ton of 4/4's in the opponent's face, the tempo deck's concern is laying down select threats in the early to mid game and protecting/disrupting your way to victory.

Merfolk Looter and Obsessive Search feel super good in conjunction. The looter offers another instant speed dicard outlet that isn't as mana hungry as Waterfront Bouncer and, when combined with madness, it reads "tap: draw a card." Obsessive Search offers increased value to your discard engines and helps you to dig for relevant cards.

Consider Just the Wind. It's effectively a Vapor Snag in your deck which is a tempo staple in pauper. It can clear the way for attacks or save one of your own creatures while fizzling a removal spell.

AEther Tradewinds is another card I was looking at. This can bounce back pesky non-creature that dodged one of your counterspells the first time. Once again, fizzles removal while tempoing your opponent. Also, never hurts to have Basking Rootwalla back in hand.

Lastly, I toyed around with a mana base that is slightly slower but much more consistent. Ash Barrens and Thornwood Falls offer you fixing. Simic Growth Chamber does this as well and allows you the ability to cut back on lands (as one Growth chamber is effectively two lands on one card). Being able to bounce back a basic you no longer need to discard to one of your engines, all while hitting your land drop, is also not half bad.

1 year ago

Basking Rootwalla is probably the best lizard there is, so I'd go for it! Even without being able to play him via Madness, he's much better than the regular Rootwalla. That extra is not worth +1/+1, trust me. If it's easier to get your hands on, Frilled Sandwalla is virtually identical in this case.

1 year ago

Pretty interesting deck, i like it. There are some things i'd change though: 20 lands are not enough considering your amount of cards with a high cmc. 24 seems better. Then, to optimize what shefet monitor can do, you could try adding some wastes. A combo i'd suggest is Tormenting Voice and Basking Rootwalla.

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